Campus survives the ‘iPad jitters’

By Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor

June 30th, 2011

Two-thirds of Seton Hill faculty members say they frequently use the iPad in class.

Putting Apple iPads in the hands of every student and professor on a PC-based campus required some convincing, but a year later, Seton Hill University officials said the tablet program has changed the way classes are taught.

Seton Hill in Greensburg, Pa., a small campus of about 2,400 students, drew international attention in 2009 when officials there said every student and educator would receive an iPad just after the tablet was announced.

Other schools, from research campuses like Oklahoma State University to small institutions like Washington College in Chestertown, Md., followed Seton Hill’s lead and experimented with a limited number of iPads.

During a session at EduComm 2011, an annual educational technology conference in Orlando, three Seton Hill decision makers who oversaw the iPad rollout said the device has remained popular among students and staff, even though most educators weren’t among the Apple faithful.